Tyler's story

Friday 25 September 2015

Living with a benign brain tumour as a teenager. A written account of Tyler's experiences and also films of Tyler and his mum speaking about their experiences.

When Tyler was 12 he started to suffer from severe headaches and uncontrollable vomiting, these always seemed to happen at night. Initially the doctor advised that they were migraines and tried him on various different types of migraine tablet.

As these attacks continued Tyler was referred to the hospital, we were told that he needed a routine MRI to rule out anything serious. Luckily Tyler had that MRI very quickly because he had a life threatening brain tumour.

Following the MRI Tyler was transferred urgently to Southampton hospital where he had surgery the next day. Tyler remained in hospital for many weeks and he had 5 further operations, during one of these ops Tyler had a programmable shunt fitted.

Living with a benign brain tumour as a teenager. A video of Tyler and his mum speaking about their experiences.

Tyler was in and out of hospital for much of 2010. Due to the size and location of the tumour the surgeon was unable to remove it all and Tyler continues to need regular MRI scans. Although Tyler's tumour was benign, there were some quite serious side effects to Tyler's surgery leaving him with mobility (needed a wheelchair for some months), visual and nausea issues.

Tyler is an extremely determined young man and threw himself into learning to walk again with lots of physio and hydro therapy. He was utterly determined to get back to school and some sort of normality.

Tyler suffered quite a rare side effect with the surgery with regard to his eyesight. Due to this we were referred to Moorefield , They have said that they can correct Tyler's eyesight but that it will take 3 operations, the first of these will be in April 2012.

Tyler has been an absolute inspiration in the way that he has coped with his illness and recovery. He was recently awarded the Spirit FM bravery award in recognition of his efforts. Tyler is also keen to promote awareness of brain tumour symptoms and has recently given a radio broadcast to highlight brain tumour awareness month.